During talks with visiting Chinese State Councilor Wu Yi, Aref said that both Iran and China enjoy high capacity to foster bilateral, regional and international cooperation.

Aref said that he was pleased with the outcome of the 11th China-Iran joint economic commission meeting, while calling for holding expert meetings to study cooperation in economic, political and scientific fields.

For her part, Wu conveyed greetings of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji to his Iranian host and called for boosting cooperation between the two countries.

She said that Iran has an important role to play in the region and the entire world. She stressed that China opposes imposition of will from big powers on other nations, and is keen on relations based on mutual respect and equity.

Wu, who arrived here on Saturday afternoon for a five-day visit, called for continued consultations between the two countries on campaign against terrorism, the Afghanistan situation and the promotion of a new world order based on mutual respect.

She said that China is willing to boost the level of cultural, scientific, economic and technical cooperation with Iran, adding that China is also keen on cooperation with Iran in the field of energy, petrochemical industry and metro construction.

The bilateral trade between China and Iran has increased fast in recent years, with trade volume reaching some 3.3 billion U.S. dollars last year, several times higher than that of a decade ago.

(People?s Daily March 19, 2002)